Coil edge protector for automatic handling tongs



K. EGGE April 13, 1954 COIL EDGE PROTECTOR FOR AUTOMATIC HANDLING TONGS Filed Jan. 12, 1951 INVENTOR.

KLAUS EGGE ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 13, 1954 C OIL EDGE PROTECTOR FOR AUTOMATIC HANDLING TONGS Klaus Egge, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to United States Steel Corporation, a corporation of New Jersey Application January 12, 1951, Serial No. 205,758

This invention relates to improvements in tongs for lifting coils of strip material or the like.

An object of the invention is to provide in. such tongs improved means for preventing damage to edges of the strip.

A further object of the invention is to equip such tongs with resiliently mounted buffers that engage a coil ahead of the rigid parts of the tongs as the tongs are lowered to grasp the coil, and thus prevent damage to the strip from engagement by these rigid parts.

In accomplishing these and other objects of the invention, I have provided improved details of structure, preferred forms of which are shown in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a set of lifting tongs which are equipped with buifers in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken sub-- stantially on line 11-11 of Figure l; and

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view similar to Figure 2 but showing a modification,

The drawing shows a set of tongs which includes a rigid bar Ill, a nose I2 fixed to said bar,

a movable gripper plate 13, an operating linkage M, and a lifting ring l5. A suitable crane hook, not shown, engages said lifting ring for supporting the tongs and their load. Nose I2 is adapted to fit within a coil S of strip material and gripper plate Hi to grip the outside of the coil. Linkage i 4 can be of any standard or desired con struction, but preferably includes a latch 16 for automatically holding the tongs open or closed. Such latches are fully disclosed in Gellert Patent No. 1,506,827 and Heppenstall Patent No. 1,839,389. Bar Ill preferably is of U-shape in cross-section, and, when the tongs are lowered against a coil S, the underface of this bar contacts the coil before the latch is released and before the gripper plate engages the outside of the coil. The structure thus far described is well known and therefore is not described in greater detail.

Figures 1 and 2 show an embodiment of the present invention in which each side of bar it carries a resiliently mounted buffer H. The side faces of bar H] each have a pair of rigidly attached, angle-shaped brackets I8. The upper face of each buffer carries a plurality of upstanding studs 19 which extend through apertures in said brackets and have nuts 20 on their outer ends. Compression springs 2| surround said studs between the brackets and the upper faces of the buffers and thus urge said buffers down- 2 Claims. (Cl. 29467) wardly. The underfaces of the buffers preferably are covered with layers 22 of abrasion resisting material, such as automotive brake lining. Said underfaces normally are at a lower level than the underface of bar It).

Figure 3 shows a modification in which the supporting means for the buffers affords greater stability and overcomes any wobbliness in these buffers. In this modification the brackets on the side faces of bar It include upper guide loops 23 and axially aligned lower guide loops 24. Studs IQ have enlargements 25 that are slidably received in said lower guide loops. The compression springs 2| extend between the upper faces of said enlargements and the lower faces of loops 23.

With either embodiment of the invention, when the tongs are lowered to grasp a coil, buffers I! contact the coil ahead of bar Ill. The resiliency in the mountings of these buffers enables them to yield as such contact is established, rather than allowing the strip in the coil to be damaged by contact with the rigid bar Iii. Subsequently bar in contacts the coil and then the linkage can operate to grasp and pick up the coil in the usual fashion.

From the foregoing description it is seen that the present invention affords a particularly simple and effective means for preventing damage to the strip from contact with lifting tongs. The buffers of the present invention offer the further advantage that they can be installed on any conventional pre-existing tongs without otherwise altering the structure of the tongs.

While I have shown and described only certain preferred embodiments of the invention, it is apparent that modifications may arise. Therefore I do not wish to be limited to the disclosure as set forth but only by the scope of the appended claims.

Iclaim:

1. In lifting tongs which include a rigid bar, a nose fixed to said bar and adapted to :fit within a coil of strip material, a gripper plate movable relative to said bar and adapted to abut a selected portion of the outside of the coil, and means for moving said gripper plate into contact relation with the coil, said moving means being actuated by contact of said bar with the top of a coil, the combination therewith of apertured brackets affixed to opposite side faces of said bar, a pair of elongated buffers, upstanding studs fixed to said buifers, the studs on one buffer extending through the brackets on one side of said bar, the studs on the other buffer extendin through the brackets on the other side of said bar, said studs thus mounting said buffers to a projectedposition in which their under-faces are below that of said bar, said'iibuflfers being adapted to contact the' top of a coil ahead of said bar to cushion said bar to prevent damage tothe edges of strip material in the coil, said buffers being laterally removed fromiatherunderfaceof said bar and being yieldable to a retracte'dspdsition in which their underfaces are in the plane of the bar to enable thebar tomoritact the-coil to operate said moving means.

2. A combination as defined in claim 1 in which each of said brackets includes'anupper guide loop and an axially aligned lower guide loop, :ande'eaeh of said studs has an enlargement received in its respective lower guide loop, and in which said compression springs surround their respective studs in the spaces between said enlargements and said upper guide loops.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATESPA'I'ENZI'S Number --=Name Date 458,532 Green Aug. 25, 1891 "524,072 Richards Aug. 7, 1894 1,519,736 .Lewise Dec. 16, 1924 \1 621;650 "Angel Mar. 22, 1927 1,974,892 Poliakofl Sept. 25, 1934 "2,281501'2 lSears Apr. 28, 1942 2;41'6,-575 F'ont-aine Feb. 25, 1947 2,488,205 Kopczynski Nov. 15, 1949 :2;536 932- H'eppenstall Jan. 2, 1951 Sohmidgall June 19, 1951 

